Hespeler Shamrocks fall to late surge by Norwich

NORWICH – The Hespeler Shamrocks kept the Norwich Merchants for more than 45 minutes, but it wasn’t enough to secure a victory in Provincial Junior Hockey League play Saturday at Norwich’s NOR-DEL Arena.

Norwich scored four times in the final 15 minutes to claim a 4-2 win after the Shamrocks had scored once in the first period and once in the second.

Jack Restauri and Andrew Harris had a goal apiece for Hespeler while Boden White assisted on both goals. Thomas Giffin also had an assist.

Joel Storoschuk had a pair of goals for Norwich while singletons were added by Lincoln Swerdfeger and Travis Lamb. Nicholas Zammit assisted on two of the goals and Josh King, Cameron Vilaca, Jake Clemmer, Malcolm Scott and Joel Verspeeten each had one assist.

The Shamrocks outshot Norwich 35-26 including a 17-7 advantage in the second period. Both teams went 0-for-3 on their power plays.

Lucas Hillert had 22 saves for Hespeler while Carter Spence had 33 for Norwich.

The Shamrocks are sixth in the Doherty Division at 10-25-2-0 (W-L-OTL-T) while Norwich is fourth at 16-16-5-1. New Hamburg Firebirds lead at 29-7-2-0 and are followed by the Woodstock Navy Vets (27-7-3-0), Tavistock Braves (22-12-1-2), Norwich, Wellesley Applejacks (16-19-1-0), Hespeler and the Paris Titans (8-26-2-1).

The Shamrocks are to complete their three-in-three weekend Sunday with a game against Woodstock at the Hespeler Memorial Arena. Game time is 3:30 p.m.

• Guelph Sports Journal